When I first began performing in porn, initially I had the idea that I'd work consistently for around 4 to years. Well, considering that I got into the porn business during a transitional stage in our economy (and especially in the adult industry) AND the fact that after beginning to perform, I realized that "porn world" was far different than I'd anticipated, I decided to take some time off from around Feb of 2009 to August 2009.
I needed the time off to rethink and reassess:
What type of performer I really am.
Whether the porn business is really right for me.
How I could build a career on the foundation (my websites and past porn movies I've been featured in) that I'd created for myself already.
I suppose 7 months seems like a long time to take to figure such things out, but in reality it's not - and from what I can observe - it's fairly common for a performer to do.
When you enter the world of porn, truthfully - it can be a bit of a shock. Most people don't realize this, but porn world is essential a culture and lifestyle. It can take a while to become familiar and comfortable with ( and some people never DO become familiar and/or comfortable with it - if you're one of those people, it's not a business for you).
I've found that I like porn world - a lot. My long term goal is to write, direct, and produce adult features - period. It took me a while to realize that I'm as much of a "weirdo and pervert" as I am, but truthfully, if I hadn't taken time off to really get to know my "post porn" self I would not have ever realized this.
Come October, I will be entering "phase 2" of "Monica Foster - the porn girl". I took the time to revamp my website, and look during my time off. I also took the time to get my mind where it needs to be in order to be the type of performer I want to be.
My suggestion to those in, or thinking about getting into the porn world, is to allow your initial entrance to simply be "phase 1" . You most likely will not be the performer or person you were when you began after even just a year, so pace yourself. Shoot some scenes, take in your surroundings, but then retract and figure out if this is something you want to build a career out of, because performing in porn generally isn't just something you can do and then walk away from without it substantially effecting MANY areas of your life from that point on.
Though most porn studios do their very best to ensure the validity and currency of each individual's STD test (which is most often in Los Angeles from AIM ) sometimes mishaps and oversights happen, as studios (especially larger ones), generally employ multiple directors and can't always keep tabs as to whether everyone they employ is working along the guidelines of which they're expected to.
I can not emphasize how important it is for you, as a new or established adult video talent to verify ONLINE or via TELEPHONE the validity of the testing paperwork which is presented to you of any talents that you are working with ON SET PRIOR TO SHOOTING a scene. Yes, it may take some extra time, but a few minutes of lost time is well worth ensuring that you will not contract and curable or non-curable STDs.
On GettingIntoPorn.com I created a section of the site called "Building a Solid Pre-Porn Foundation", where I explain how important it is to purchase a domain name for your stage name BEFORE you begin to shoot adult scenes (or even work as a webcam girl).
Now, more so than ever, it is IMPERATIVE that both new and even established talent own their domain names, and webhosting. Why? Because there's a trend right now in the adult industry of which some studios (especially the newer startups) will CLAIM that you will own your own website if you work with them, when in reality, you may not. The proof is on the cover of Xbiz magazine this month and on the inside ad.
Starlet Entertainment Group began running press releases this year on sites such asXbiz, Xfanzand AVN announcing the launch of their company and how there goal was to help their stars via the ownership & control of their own website.
Both the cover and inside advertisement of Xbiz magazine this month feature XXX stars Brianna Banks and Alexis Texas who were the featured talent for the now, out of business company "Starlet Entertainment Group". The magazine's cover and inside ads boldly state both Brianna's and Alexis' websites which they were said to own: BrianaBanksReloaded.com & AlexisTexass.com. Unfortunately even prior to the Xbiz cover and inside ad coming out, both of these websites became inactive (the company went out of business about a week prior due to their angel investor(s) pulling out their funding).
Apparently Starlet Entertainment Group, according to this article on AVN, built and managed the websites (though the registrant for both sites is listed as T&T Construction) didn't grant their talent enough notice prior to their going out of business that they needed to find a new webmaster and hosting in order to keep their websites online.
I view this situation as being not only a tremendous waste of effort and advertising dollars on Starlet Entertainment Groups part, but also a huge disservice to their featured talent. This situation could easily be viewed as very unprofessional . Countless web traffic AND possibly thousands of dollars in potential earnings for the company's talent have been lost since the Xbiz cover and inside magazine ad have been released.
Now though I don't like to speculate that Starlet Entertainment Group, would do this,but it would be possible for the company to retain the domains and launch new pay websites under the domains (or simply forward the domains to the new pay websites) featuring content of which the performers MAY NOT own. This tactic has been done countless times by quite a few adult industry "webmasters". This strategy could wind up being very profitable for anyone who's left to "pick up the pieces" of the failed Starlet Entertainment Group venture.
Furthermore, considering that both performers have been promoting the domain names BrianaBanksReloaded.com and AlexisTexass.com for some time, both sites currently draw a HUGE amount of viewers (traffic) and this number could potentially grow (everytime a viewer watches either of the posted youtube videos below, they would be likely to visit BrianaBanksReloaded.com).
Whether this company works with Briana or Alexis in the future - or not, these domain names are the key to the success of future adult websites which may be associated with the domains in the future. Hopefully Briana and Alexis truly DO own these domains being that they've put a lot of effort into the domain's promotion - but only time will tell - so I will be sure to post an update.
Below are 2 YouTube videos I found of which Briana clearly promotes BrianaBanksReloaded.com prior to the site becoming inactive and the company going out of business. Briana Banks, a beautiful and long time porn talent (a past Vivid girl), has had problems with retaining ownership of her domain name: BrianaBanks.com due to ClubJenna.com registering and owning the domain in the past as well. She discusses this in the first video.
I hope that this blog clearly illustrates how IMPORTANT it is that you, as a porn talent "newbie" or porn long time veteran talent, own your domain and website.
Here are a few tips:
Don't just take for granted that the company or studio you work with as a talent really is taking care of everything for you. Request the USERNAME and PASSWORD to both the company your domain is registered with AND to your website's hosting company.
Request the registration paperwork for your domain name and make sure that you are listed as the owner and/or administrator
Request the monthly bill for your hosting or domain name registrant company to be sent to your own snail or email address.
Any webmaster that has a problem with you owning the domain name and hosting for your website (especially in the adult world) probably is not the webmaster for you.
A month or so ago there was a video circulated online by JM productions of young pornstar Tanner Mayes supposedly drugged up and/or liquored up and flipping out on a behind the scenes on a porn set.
Initially when I posted about the video , I was a bit harsh in my thoughts on Tanner's behavior. When I saw this video I felt she was acting very unprofessional, however I also knew there must be more to her level of hostility, than just a cellphone being lost.
Julie Meadows recently conducted an excellent interview with Tanner to get the real story as to why she blew up on set and how she was taken advantage of by the people she was working with for over a year.
This interview clearly shows how there is much more to the porn industry, than just sex on camera, for many of the performers.
It will be interesting to watch how Tanner's situation progresses.
As a porn performer you most likely will be cast into a wide variety of roles in a wide variety of niches your look may fall into. Whether it be a horny school girl, a dominant MILF, a sexy nurse, etc - please think carefully and consider whether the role, part and dialog the writer, director or studio requests that you act out is something that you can live with later.
Just as you should carefully consider whether or not doing porn itself is something that's right for you both now, and later on in life (remember - it's not something that you can EVER take back), you should put the same thought and consideration into each and every part you play (in each and every movie and/or scene that you're cast in).
Depending on your current life and financial situation, it can be easy to jump at ANY part you are offered (and often those around you, both personally and professionally may strongly encourage you to do so), however this is YOUR LIFE and YOUR CAREER - not anyone else's.
Deciding whether a part is right for you can be difficult - especially when it comes to the time frame in which you're often forced to decide (as a new performer, most of the time you won't even find out what a scene is about until you arrive on set if the scene or movie is booked by an agency - often times you won't even see a script until you arrive on set). My suggestion is to simply go with your gut and your instincts. Don't be afraid to speak up if the dialog isn't something that you feel goes against how you feel about certain things.
For example - if you have a problem with (as most people do) the subject matter of incest, and you have a look which falls into the "teen" niche of porn, make it known to your agent. If you arrive on set and are cast opposite of an older man and are directed to play the role of his daughter who later in the scene you're directed to perform sexually with - you have the right to say "hey, I'm not comfortable with this". Yes the scene may be canceled, but it may also simply be altered. Regardless why play a role that isn't something that you can live with later on?
Here's another example - lets say that you fall into the MILF category and you are cast in an interracial scene of which the person you are cast opposite of for the sex scene is a young black man. Lets say that setup of the scene is that you're a lonely housewife who decides to get it on with your mechanic, BUT the catch is that the studio director wants you to call the black male performer a "N*gger" in the dialog. If racial name calling is something that you have a problem with in your real life, then you may not want to do it on camera.
As a final example - lets say that you are cast as the lead in an adult movie of which you are asked to play a political figure, or any real life person in a "parody". Yes, such a role can definitely assist in sky-rocketing your adult industry career, however remember that such a role can be damaging to whoever you're impersonating's career. In this situation I suppose I have to say that if you wouldn't want someone to impersonate you, you might not want to impersonate them.
I as an adult industry haven't always thought things through when it's come to accepting roles in porn movies. Rather than going into detail, I'll simply link to a couple of my recent "Monica Foster" blogs.
In conclusion, just as top professional mainstream actors and actresses carefully consider roles before taking them, you, even as a beginner in the porn world, should do so as well.
